Burner-tip for acetylene and similar hydrocarbon gases.



A. L. HANSEN. BURNER TIP FOR ACETYLENE AND SIMILAR HYDROCARBON GASES APPLICATION HLED nov. 25. 191 s.

- Patented Mar.- 4,1919,

80 acetylene miners lamps. These lamps are those which are ric roE,

AUG-IE L. HANSEN, 0F EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO JUSTRITE MANUFACTURE 7 COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A. CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

- BUBNERQTIP FOR ACETYLENE AND SIMILAR HYDROCARBON GASES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 4, 1919.

- Application filed November 25, 1916. Serial No. 133,315.

To all whom 2t may concern:

Be it'known that I, Acorn L. HANSEN, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of Evanston, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Burner-Tips for Acetylene and Similar Hydrocarbon Gases, of which the following is a specification.

My improved burner tip has been de veloped particularly for use with acetylene gas but it may be used in connection with other hydrocarbon ases and particularly in carbon and with which carbonization presents practical difficulties.

My object islto provide a tip by which the flame if accidentally extinguished will be automatically and immediately relighted. A further object is to provide a tip by which a highly efficient illuminating flame may be secured having the property to a marked extent of resisting the tendency to become extinguished by sudden currents or more or less continuous drafts of air. A

further object is to provide a tip that is' simple and compact in construction and entirely certain and durable in operation. I have developed my improved tip particularly for use in connection with so-called small, light structures adapted to be carried on the caps of miners and provided with a carbid container supplied with about an ounce and a half of carbid, and with a Water receptacle above the same by which water in very small quantity is fed to the carbid so as to generate acetylene gas, the latter being conveyed to a small burner surrounded by a reflector and located on the outside of the water receptacle. Although these miners lamps are very small and compact and the conditions under which they; operate are apparently unfavorable, they burn with astonishing regularity for from two to two and a half hours for each charge, generating the acetylene gas at a pressure of about an inch and a half of water, although sometimes the pressure varies quite widely from the normal figure. Other miners portable lamps using calcium carlid of a larger type, adapted to' be carried by hand or supported from the timbers of the mine, are used, operating on the same general principle but with larger charges of water and carbid so as to burn for a full shift of from ten to twelve hours. In mines where open flame lamps can be saiely used .the'acetylene lamp has found a large field,

owing. to its lightness, convenience, safety,

economy of operation and superior illumination.- Owing, however, to the small pressures used the flames are relatively sensitive and in consequence whenever blasting takes place in the mines, the momentary increased pressure is very likely to extinguish the flames by backing up the gas in the tip.

cause the same to be ignited in case the flame has become extinguished. I am, of course, aware that so-called re-lightin devices have been heretofore suggest in which a body of refractory material has been located veryclose to the flame so as to become heated thereby and operate to relight the gas stream if the flame is extinguished. but such devices have not been commercially successful for the reason that the re-lighting device being outside of the path of the gas stream fails to re-light the latter under ordinary conditions. With such a device it would be impracticable in the burning of acetylene or similar gas to locate the body of refractory material so close to the gas stream as to provide for effective re-lighting because in. that case it would be located within the flame, which would cause it to be rapidly coated with carbon so as to impair its heating properties. and at the same time interfere with the illumination. If such an igniting device were in the form of a ring through which the flame projected it would soon become entirely closed by the accummulationv I have discovered that it is possible to burn v acetylene gas in two distinct but connected zones, the first being used for heating the re-lighting element Without carbonization so that it may be located as a ring through which the gas stream passes, and the second providing for the necessary illumination. In other words, with my improved burner tip I cause the gas to be first burned as a non-illuminating, non-carbonizing blue flame which comes into contact with the relighting device made of refractory material so as to heat the same, and from there on'} the gas is burned as a luminous flame correspondin substantiallyto those now employed. This method of burning acetylene is claimed in my co-pending application Serial No. 133,316, filed November 25th, 1916. I prefer to construct my improved burner tip. of so-called lava or other refractory material having a very fine orifice through which the gas stream projects and in advance of which is' -a heating chamber formed with an opening at its extreme end considerably larger than the gas orifice. Betweenthe heating chamber and the gas orifice the bore is somewhat increased over the latter, and intakes are provided to feed to the gas a limited supply of air to produce a Bunsen effect. The resulting blue flame is thereupon projected through the heating chamber and escapes through the opening at the end thereof. I also prefer to provide the walls of the heating chamber with openings by which an additional supply of air ma be introduced therein and which appears to combine with the blue flame within the heating chamber so as to. increase the heating effect. I find by actualexperiment that if an added supply of air is not introduced to the blue flame within the heating chamber the heating effect is not so pronounced as when this is done, and there is also danger of carbonization around the mouth of'the tip, particularly if the gas pressure is low. The outer end of the tip is preferably formed as a head or button which becomes highly heated by the blue flame and which constitutes the re-lighting device and serves to strengthen the tip. In practice I find that this enlargement at the end of the tip frequently becomes red hot so as to glow and it operates very effectively to relight the flame should it become eX-' tinguished. Preferably I form a series of openings in the wall of the heating chamber immediately below this enlargement which openings by restricting the paths of heat conduction permit the enlarged end to be heated more effectively. Under some conditions very small tongues from the blue flames are forced out through these latter 'openings in operation so as to increase the heating effect. In order that my invention may be better neaaeoe understood, attention is directedto the accompanying drawing, showing a sectional view on a greatly enlarged scale of a burner tip suitable for a miners lamp, and embodying my present improvements. Although the tip illustrated in the drawing has been designed particularly for use with an acetylene miners lamp, it should be understood that it may be employed for other purposes,

A, the latter being supported frictionally in the usual waywithinthe outer end of the gas pipe. The nipple is formed with a bore B and with a very small gas orifice O,

the diameter of which determines the capacity of the tip. Above the orifice G is a largerpassage D into which lead the air openings E, E to supply a limited amount of air to the gas stream projectedthrough the orifice C, thus producing a so-called Bunsen effect, the gas stream being ignited immediately above the mouth of the enlargement D. -The main portion of the tip comprises the heating chamber F having tapered walls as shown so as'to be as strong as possible, and at the extreme end is formed with a bead or button G. The outer end of the heating chamber is contracted as shown, forming an opening H, through which the blue flame projects and'above which the luminous flame is formed. An additional supply of airis introduced within the heating chamber through openings I and J,

which may be'located in any suitable way;

and immediately below the bead or button G, I form other openings K whichserve the purpose of restricting the path for the escape of heat from the bead or button so that the latter is more effectively heated and also permit small tongues from the blue flame to be forced out around the head or button so as to increase the heating effect,

cording to the variations in pressure. Some- I diameter throughout, located centrally in the heating chamber, end at times when the pressure is low 1t appears to swell outwardly times the blue flame appears to exist as a very thin pencil of substantially the same so as to occupy the entire bore of the forward portion of the heating chamber and small tongues are forced out through the extremes,

openings K and it varies between these two In order to protect the tip,.especially .when it'is used with the miners lamp, I

prefer to'make use of a guard as shown made of stamped metal and formed with two the tip may be handled so as to be placed in.

position or removed and also protected from injury.

In operation assuming such a tip as I have described to be used with a 'miners lamp and that under slight pressure is being forced through the minute orifice C. the stream will be ignited about the level of or, slightly above the mouth of the enlargement D soas to bum as a blue flame within the heating chamber. 'VVhen supplied with an additional amount of air, as described, the heating efl'e'ct is very pronounced and in a short time the heating chamber will become very hot and the bead or button G will be intensely heated, suflicient to re-ignite the gas in case it becomes extinguished. The flame projects through the aperture H and beyond the tip it will burn as a luminous flame of great intensity, corresponding in all respects to the flames now used. I am not able to state positively sumed acetylene is carried with the blue flame through the tip and becomes ignited on the outside of the tip to form the luminous flame, or that both of these. actions take place. Whatever may be the explanation of the phenomena, I find that I am enabled to obtain within the heating chamber a blue flame having little or no tendency to carbonization,

"which is sufficiently hot. to raise the re-lighting device to the proper temperature and that after leaving the tip an illuminating flame is secured substantially corresponding inintensity and length to the usual standards.

In practice I have toundlhat the best results are secured with a device having the features shownin the drawing; but obviously the tip may be varied to meet varying conditions of gas pressure, etc. desirable to contract the discharge from the heating chamberas shown, because in this way the best heating effect is secured. I

heating chamber also determine the-heating It isfind, however, that if the opening H is enlarged somewhat suflicient heating may be secured to re-light the flame. The size of this opening depends upon the gas pressure (and the size of the flame desired, and should be small enough to secure a slight retardation of the flame ,within the heating chamber and not too large as to 'be ineffectively heated. The size and dimensions of the 1 5 effect andI have found by experiment that if the heating chamber is made too short it will be inefl'ectively heated. In actual practice I have made tips for acetylene miners lamps embodying the present improvements only one-half of an inch in length fromthe discharge of the gas orifice C to the end of the tip and in which the length of the gas chamber is only three-eighths of an inch from its inner end to the end of the tip. Even with such small tips as these suitable for use with acetylene miners lamps, but obviously capable of other use, the opera tions take placevery perfectly and the flame re-lights lmmediately and automatically whenever it is extinguished.- Not only does the improved tip provide .means by which the flame will be automatically and innuediately re-lighted if it becomes extinguished, but by causing the flame to'be divided into two zones as shown and by confining the heating zone within a more or less closed chamber, the flame as a whole is efl'ectively protected from blasts and drafts of air; In other words, I find that with a tip such as 100 described when subjected to blasts of air, the flame .instead of being immediately extinguished as is the ease with present tips, is not only protected by the walls of the heating chamber, but may actually burn 105 from one or more of the openings I, J, or K on the side of the tip opposite to the direction of the blast. I The tip coulrhbe made of other materials but is preferably of material which is heat U0 retentive but which will not readily conduct heat. Material, commercially referred to as lava, and already mentioned herein, has these properties and is very desirable. Intips constructed of this material in accord [15 ance with my invention the head or bead be.- comes so hot and the heat is so retained that the gas .will be re-ignited several seconds after extinguishmeirt of the flame, whereas the base of the tipremains so cool that a match applied thereto will not. ignite. This will prevent heating of supports or fixtures in which the tips are used.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new therein and desire to. secure by Letters Patent is as follows:

1. A burner tip for acetylene or similar hydrocarbon gas having a contracated ori-' fice through which a gas stream is projected of refractory material with which the gas stream comes into contact orclose proximity,

air openings for supplying to the gas stream a limite'dsupplyof air so as to result in the production of a non-illuminating, non-carbonizing jflame which heats the refractory body tothe ignition temperature, the pressure being sufiicient to force the flame be- I yond the heated refractory body where it is supplied with additional air so as to become luminous, substantially as set forth.

2; A burner tip for acetylene or similar hydrocarbon gas having a contracted orifice through which a gas stream is projected hydrocarbon gas having a contracted orifice through which a gasstre'am is projected under pressure, and provided with an annular body of refractory material through which the gas streamisprojected so as to come in contact therewithor close proximity thereto, air openings for supplying to'the gas stream a limited supply of air so as to result in the production of a non-illuminating, non-carbonizing flame which heats the annular refractory body to the ignition tem-;

perature, the pressure being sufiicient to force the flame through and beyond the heated refractory body where it is supplied with additional air so as to become luminous, substantially as set forth.

45A burner tip for acetylene or similar hydrocarbon gas comprising a burner in which the gas'is supplied with a limited amount of air to produce a non-carbonizing flame, a heating chamber which will be heated thereby to-the ignition temperature and a discharge from the heating chamber through which the flame is projected and beyond which it is supplied with additional air so as to become luminous, substantially as set forth.

5. A burner tip for acetylene or similar hydrocarbon gas comprising a burner in which the gas is supplied with a limited amount of air to produce a non-carbonizing flame, a heating chamber which will be heated thereby to the ignition temperature, air openings in the Wall of ihe heating chamber to supply additional air to the flame therein and a discharge from the heating chamber through which the flame is projected and beyond which it issupplied with 1310180138 and beyond which it' is supplied with air to become luminous, substantially as set forth.

7. A-burner tip for acetylene or similar hydrocarbon. gas having a contracted gas orifice through which a gas stream is projected under pressure, a heating chamber within which combustion of the gas stream begins, an'enlarged button or bead at the end of the heating chamber and havin an open-.

ing therein through which the flame proair to become luminous, and a series of holes in the heating chamber adjacent to said button or bead, substantially as set forth. a

8. A burner tip for acetylene or similar' hydrocarbon gas having a contracted gas orifice through which. a gas stream is projccted-under pressure, a heating chamber within which combustion of the gas stream begins, a plurality of air openings in the heating chamber for supplying airto the. flame therein, an enlarged button or bead at the end of the heating chamber and having an opening therein through which the flame projects and beyond which it. is supplied with air to become luminous, substantially as set forth.

Jects and beyond which it is supplied with i 9. A burner tip for acetylene or similarhydrocarbon comprising an elongated chamber, the walls of which are made of refractory material, a contracted gas orifice leadinginto the heating chamber at one end and supplied with gas under pressure, means for supplying a restricted amount of .air around the gas stream whereby a blue flame is secured on the surface of the stream of gas to thereby heat the walls of the heating chamber to ignition temperature and a discharge from the heating chamber through which the flame projects and beyond which it receives additional air so as to become luminous, said discharge being so proportinned as to-conform approximately to the shape and size of the blue flame at the point where it leaves the heating chamber. as substantially set forth.

In witness whereof I hereunto subscribe my name this 22nd day of November, A. D. 1916.

AUGIE L. HANSEN. 

